One of the characteristic
features of the early history of Spain is the successive waves of different
people who spread across the Iberian Peninsula.Phoenicians, Greeks, Vandals, Visigoths, Muslims,
Jews, and Christians all occupied Spain at one point or another.History records communities of Jews living
on the Iberian Peninsula from as early as the destruction of the first temple
in Jerusalem(Diaz-Mas 1).But it was during the realm of the Moors in
Al-Andalus (land of the vandals) which
the Jews thrived the greatest.Though
this was a time of artistic, educational, and cultural enlightenment, it
was not completely serene or without persecution for the Jewish people.

As historians look
back before the first millennium at the Jewish populations of Iberia, we
see Jews living in convergence with both Muslims and Christians.However, Muslims were undoubtedly the principal subjects of the kingdom,
not Jews, nor Christians.The Muslims
had greater rights and responsibilities than non-Muslims, thus Moorish toleration
was not exactly Moorish equality.History
demonstrates a long history of persecutions against the Jewish people.And the Jews living in Muslim Spain were not
excluded from such inequity.

The first of many discriminatory
laws against the Jews was passed even before the Moorish invasion in 305
C.E. in the Roman province of Hispania (Spain); soon after the Council of
Toledo passed a canon forbidding Jews from blessing the crops of non-Jews,
as well as prohibited Christians from sharing meals with Jews.When the Visigoths (Aryan Christians) invaded Hispania in 409 C.E.,
more laws were instituted further restricting the Jews.One hundred and eighty years later in 589 C.E., Visigoth King Recared
relinquished the Aryan sect and accepted the orthodox Catholic faith, thereby
paving the way for the religious unity in the country.Subsequently the Church was to exert powerful influence on all aspects
of social life.Almost immediately
a canon was passed forbidding the marriage between Christian and Jews; and
in 612 C.E., the Council of Gundemar of Toledo ordered that all Jews submit
to baptism within the year, or undergo "scourging,
mutilation, banishment, and confiscation of goods" (Meyrick 170).However, the years of late Aryan and early
orthodox Christian rule were both coming to a close.In 709 C.E., internal unrest destabilized the peninsula.This strife originated between the Trinitarian
Christians--who accepted the Trinity, and Aryan Christians, who saw jesus
not as their god but as a prophet inspired by their god(Charafi 2).

Two years later in
711 C.E., Moorish soldiers (a mixed Arab and Berber army) crossed over from
Africa to the Iberian Peninsula. They were led by General Tariq ibn Ziyad,
Governor of Tangiers (Sachar 3).He advanced his army of near ten thousand men across the strait,
and landed at a location, which from that day since has sustained his name--Jabal
Tarik (Mount Tarik), or Gibraltar.The Moors engaged in battle with Visigothic
soldiers, eventually killing their monarch, King Roderick.The Muslim invasion, and subsequent administration
of Iberia, freed the major Spanish population of Jews from Visigothic oppression.It was said that immediately after the invasion, the Jewish population
of Toledo "opened the gates" of the city, welcoming
the North African Muslims (Wexler 218).Though ruthless fighters, the Moors were very just. They gave the
Goth Spaniards an opportunity to surrender each of their provinces, to which
most capitulated.

"It is a common
misapprehension that the holy war meant that the Muslims gave their
opponents a choice 'between Islam and the sword'. This was sometimes
the case, but only when the opponents were polytheist and idol-worshippers.
For Jews, Christians, and other 'People of the Book'.there was a third
possibility, they might become a 'protected group', paying a tax or
tribute to the Muslims but enjoying internal autonomy" (Watt 144).

Even in those early
days, the Moors knew and practiced the principles of chivalry.They had already won the title to Knightliness which many centuries
later compelled the victorious Spaniards to addressed them as "Knights
of Granada, Gentleman, albeit Moors"(Lane-Poole 26).

Later, after advancing
to Cordoba, the Muslims found that the Goth nobles of the kingdom had fled
over the Pyrenees Mountains, all but abandoning their land to them (Lane-Poole
27).The occupation of the Moors
set the stage for beginning the work of building an Islamic empire similar
to the one flourishing in Damascus.Within
a century of their activity, the Moors, with assistance of the Jews, had
developed a civilization based in Cordoba that surpassed that of any in
Europe; it was known as Al-Andalus.At
the end of the eighth century, Al-Andalus was the most populous, cultured,
and industrious land of all Europe, remaining so for centuries.During this prosperous period, trade with the
outside world was unrivaled.It
was during this time of economic expansion, the Jews, who had been virtually
eliminated from the peninsula in the seventh century by the Christians,
grew once more in numbers and flourished.Hume wrote in his book "Spanish People":

"Side
by side with the new rulers lived the Christians and Jews in peace. The
latter rich with commerce and industry were content to let the memory of
their oppression by the priest-ridden Goths sleep" (Hume 23).

The occupation of Iberia
by the Moors was a welcome occurrence for a well pummeled and remaining
Jewish population.Of course the
Muslims were not completely tolerant, but they were more tolerant than the
rulers of the previous administration.

Under the ruling Caliph (the descendant of Mohammed--the
prophet of G-d on earth), the Jews were able to preserve their rites and
traditions.Peaceful coexistence
led to their economic and social expansion.Their status was that of Dhimmis,
non-Muslims living in a land governed by Muslims.The Jews had limited autonomy, but full rights to practice their
religion, as well as full protection by their Muslim rulers; but this did
not occur for free.There was a
specific tax called the jizya
that Dhimmis had to pay to receive these benefits.Having its origin in the Qur'an,
it states Dhimmis who did not pay this tax, should either convert to Islam,
or face the death penalty (Qur'an 9, 29).This tax, higher than the tax Muslims had to pay, was in several
occasions one of the most important sources of income for the kingdom.The jizya was not only a tax, but also a symbolic
expression of subordination (Lewis 14).

From the second half
of the eighth century to the end of the eleventh century Jewish life flourished
while contributing greatly to scholarship.A translating program was established in Toledo,
using Jews as interpreters.There
they translated the Arabic books into romance languages, as well as Greek
and Hebrew texts into Arabic.This
included many major works of Greek science and philosophy.Jews studied and contributed to mathematics, medicine, botany, geography,
poetry, and philosophy.It was
at this time that the study of Medicine expanded to produce a large number
of exceptional Jewish physicians.Islam
had its sway over Jewish cultural life too.In literature, and the arts, the Muslim influence on the Jews is
enormous.Though written in non-Islamic
language and script, medieval Hebrew poetry, and much of the prose literature,
belong to the same cultural world as Arabic and other literatures of Islam
(Lewis 81).In the Caliphate of
Cordoba [the geographical zenith of Islamic life in Al-Andalus], the Jewish
element became increasingly important, reaching its peak in the tenth century(Diaz-Mas 3).Jews lived among themselves in a walled area known as the aljama (Jewish quarter). There they lived
among their own administration, and managed their own communal affairs (Epstein
1).There the Jewish community
had their own legal court known as the Beit Din.This court, with
Rabbis as Judges, would render both religious and civil legal opinions pertaining
to Jewish affairs inside the aljama.In the Beit Din the Jews were allowed to settle their own disputes.This of course was positive for the them;but it was also positive for the Muslims to, as it decreased the
work load of the Islamic courts.

The influence Islamic
culture injected into Jewish life was significant.Jews accepted many customs and traditions of the Moors and interweaved
them into their daily life.The
Arabic language, instead of Spanish and Hebrew, was used for prayers.Ceremoniously washing of the hands and feet,
which is an Islamic custom, became adopted by Jews before entering Synagogues.Moreover, Jewish music was sung to the tune of old Arabic melodies.Jews adopted the clothing style of their Moorish neighbors; however,
they were restricted from wearing fine clothing such as furs and silk.Most wore the universal long robe and belt,
however they were prohibited from wearing a green or white one, which were
the traditional colors of Islam.

For almost four hundred
years the Jews lived in Al-Andalus amid the moderate Islamic rule based
in Cordoba.Later came the insurgence of the Muslim fundamentalist
Almoravides in 1055, and not long after their enemies, the Almohades in
1147.Both groups brought with them
radically stricter controls over the infidels (non-Muslims).During
this time Jews continued to work as moneylenders, jewelers, cobblers, tailors,
and tanners.Soon however, they
would be mandated to wear distinctive clothing, including of the wearing
of a yellow turban to distinguish them from Muslims.These changes were a foreshadowing of the stricter
controls that would soon be put in place.

Thus Islamic rule continued,
but quickly the peninsular realm was cleaved up into numerous small Muslim
kingdoms, each with its own ruler.In a way not different then that of a civil
war, they started fighting among each other.Once the Muslims divided, the armies of Christendom gained a foothold
on the peninsula.It was this subsequent
warring of Islamic administrations that led to collapse of Moorish supremacy
on the peninsula, allowing the Christians to rise to power during the subsequent
reconquista.When the Caliphate disintegrated in the eleventh century as the
result of civil war, many influential Jews remained in the Moorish kingdoms
(Diaz-Mas 3).The Jews perpetuated
their way of life under the subsequent Christian monarchs of Spain, until
anti-Semitism caught up with them, and they were expelled three hundred
years later.The golden
age of Spain was golden, but for the Jews, it was always a bit tarnished.

Sources Cited

Charafi, Abdellatif.Once Upon a Time in Andalusia. University of Portsmouth:
http://muslimsonline.com/bicnews/Articles/andalusia.htm. 18 Nov. 1998.